They Have No Shame

President Obama is obviously incapable of experiencing embarrassment—even when he throws the weakest “first pitch” in Major League Baseball history. He’s devoid of this particular emotion in the same way some of the worst swindlers in history are devoid of compassion and sympathy. It’s a rare condition, but not unknown. Many psychiatrists believe that it is most common among narcissists. There is no doubt that Obama has set a new standard by which narcissists everywhere are measured.

President Obama has made a habit of being wrong every time he jumps out in front of a story that occurred in this country. From Cambridge, to Fort Hood, to Sanford, to Ferguson, he just can’t get it right. He made campaign promise after campaign promise that he never kept. Most were rooted in a total lack of understanding of anything the real world has to offer. It’s the sort of thing that happens to people who have never held any kind of real job or assumed any degree of serious responsibility. President Obama has made a habit of being wrong every time he jumps out in front of a story that occurred in this country.

Most of us in his position would walk around looking like a freshly shaved poodle—trembling violently and trying to hide from the world around us while in plain sight. It seems impossible, but he appears to only get bolder and more confident every time he’s wrong or fails to keep his word. The only time he acts ashamed is when he’s on stage in other parts of the world talking to foreigners about all of the terrible things America has done over the last century or so. The fact that American blood, sacrifice and treasure are the reasons those listening are not living in chains is a mere sidenote not worthy of attention.

When it comes to shootings that occur in this country, Obama simply cannot help himself. Without knowing any details about the perpetrator or the facts surrounding the event, he races to his pulpit and preaches about specific policies he has advocated, which we later learn would have done absolutely nothing to prevent the crime in question. He does it time and time again. He has no shame.

The most recent example of this is the Kalamazoo, Mich., Uber driver who went on a shooting spree in the middle of one of his driving shifts for the rideshare company. He killed six people and wounded others. By all indications, he was a lifelong law-abiding individual who just “snapped,” according to one of his good friends. This is the sort of thing that is inevitable in a country with 320 million individuals residing in it. However omnipotent the president thinks he might be, there are events beyond his control.

A day after the perpetrator was arrested, Obama told those attending a National Governors Association meeting that “more” needs to be done to stop this kind of violence. He talked about all of the gun-control proposals he has promoted, only to be thwarted by an evil Congress. This might have been one of the few cases where, at least in his own mind, he was not wrong when jumping out in front of a story. Yet the only “more” that needed to be done is a ban on civilian ownership of firearms. That is the only policy that could have arguably had any bearing in this particular case. It’s eminently clear that none of the previous policies he’s advocated would have made a difference.

There is simply no question that if Obama ever found a genie in a bottle, his second wish right after making everyone’s net worth identical throughout the world (with a few noted exceptions of course) would be a nationwide gun ban. I would bet everything I’ve got on it. In his mind, the one thing that could be done to prevent virtually all shootings is a gun ban. That the real world doesn’t work this way is not relevant to him. When he talks about doing “more” to prevent killings, we should know what he is talking about.

Uber seems to follow the president’s example when it comes to having no shame and being incapable of learning from mistakes. As I pointed out in a previous article, the company enacted a policy to prohibit drivers and passengers from carrying legal firearms immediately after one of its drivers in Chicago heroically used his firearm to prevent a mass shooting. It’s the kind of story you tell friends over a beer, and they shake their head thinking it can’t be true.

Now, Uber has one of its drivers commit a number of killings while on his shift. The company has to admit and accept that whatever background check system it has implemented doesn’t weed out those capable of snapping and becoming killers. They have to acknowledge that their “no-guns” policy isn’t some magic force field that keeps guns out of their cars. What do they do this time? They double down on their silly, dangerous policy!

A day after their driver murdered six innocents, Uber released a statement saying, “We seek to ensure that everyone using the Uber digital platform … feels safe and comfortable using the service. During a ride arranged through the Uber platform, Uber and its affiliates therefore prohibit possessing firearms of any kind in a vehicle.” Really? They don’t seem to care whether people like me feel safe at all! In cases of personal security, feelings are for fools.

I can tell them right now that I would not feel safe while unarmed and knowing that the driver could begin his rampage at any moment while I’m his backseat captive. Millions of the company’s other customers feel this same way, but the leadership in silly San Fran could not care less. Of course, there is a big difference between “feeling” safe and “making” safe. Carrying a gun makes me safe, thank you very much.

It was NRA’s Wayne LaPierre who first said, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” While many in the mainstream media ridiculed him, countless schools and other entities around the country took up arms. Real Americans everywhere knew Wayne was right. I do too.

That night in Kalamazoo, the Uber driver snapped and became a very bad guy with a gun. Uber’s policy that can’t realistically prevent its drivers from committing violence regardless of whether the weapon is their car, a sword or a gun, works to discourage a good guy from being around to stop them. The company’s policy is criminal and dangerous.

Unfortunately, the company shares some of the president’s worst traits. One of them is the inability to experience embarrassment, while another is the inability to learn from mistakes. Like the president, Uber just doubled down on obvious failure. It’s truly scary, and it’s going to get good people hurt and killed because they are unable to make themselves safe. In cases of personal security, feelings are for fools.

If Uber really cared about everyone’s feelings and was able to learn from experience, it would add a feature to its sacred digital platform that allowed passengers to choose a “gun-free” vehicle like they currently choose between a sedan or SUV. The rest of us living in the real world could hope that our driver is carrying to help deal with any problems that arise. If lightning strikes and the driver snaps, we’ll handle the problem ourselves, and the president will have one less reason to race to his pulpit and be wrong about something the next day.